Bob's Your Uncle, a family restaurant in Iowa City, follows a pedigree of comfort food joints. Restaurateur Randy Larson also owns Monica's in Coralville and co-owned The Airliner for nearly 10 years. Bob's Your Uncle's American comfort food and delicious Ai

rliner-style hand tossed pizza placed the restaurant among the "Family Restaurant" finalists in this year's Best of the Area contest.

ATMOSPHERE: Bob's Your Uncle is housed in a building previously occupied by a T.G.I. Friday's, and it shows in the architecture. The booths, bar and wood detailing all seem to be adopted from the chain, but painted over with a red and green palate. There is plenty of seating in the bar and dining room, but the dining room feels strangely empty. A few of the booths, including mine, had large holes in the upholstery. The night I visited, my booth was covered in crumbs and had a few extra condiment shakers, as if it hadn't been cleaned after the previous guests. The atmosphere felt like a family restaurant, with a child's birthday and a large dining party happily eating side by side. While the hosts were more interested in chatting than greeting, my service was great. The server was fast, friendly and accurate.

MENU: Bob's Your Uncle serves everything from bar food to Midwestern comfort food straight out of your grandmother's kitchen, such as meat loaf and liver and onions. The menu offers a large selection of sandwiches, salads, pasta and pizza. Specialty pizzas are named after Hawkeye basketball stars, whose jerseys line the bar. Bob's Your Uncle also caters to the gluten-free crowd with a clearly designated gluten-free menu, including pizza and pasta.

WHAT I ORDERED: I started with the Chips and Salsa con Queso ($9.45), a large serving of corn tortilla chips with homemade salsa and queso dip. Overall, the dips were tasty, but the salsa had a strange, off-putting taste that neither I nor my dining partner could place. The queso was spicy, tangy, and didn't taste like a can of nacho cheese like some restaurants serve.

For my entrée, I ordered the Pot Roast ($11.95), an oven-baked pot roast served with gravy, baked carrots, potatoes and a hunk of freshly-baked French bread. After not eating my grandmother's pot roast for more than 10 years, the memories came flooding back. While it wasn't quite as good as hers, it was unbeatable for the price. The large portion of pot roast was unbelievably juicy and tender, falling apart when barely touched. The potatoes and carrots were tender but crisp, and soaked up the gravy and juices. I would definitely suggest this dish on your next visit.

I ended my meal with a slice of Kalona Bakery's Baked Apple Pie ($5.95), served with vanilla ice cream. While the ice cream tasted cheap, the apple pie was flaky, sweet and delicious.